This invention is directed to a recoverable, universal, scalable, high-performance data collection system (RUSH-DCS). More particularly, the method and system of the present invention provides for collection of data transactions through an adaptive interface, recording of such transactions and forwarding of the transactions to a downstream process in an efficient manner.
While the invention is particularly directed to the art of transaction processing in communication networks, and will be thus described with specific reference thereto, it will be appreciated that the invention may have usefulness in other fields and applications. Moreover, exemplary environments for the invention include those associated with billing (such as pre-paid billing), fraud detection, banking, trading, and functions of local exchange carriers (LECs) and competing local exchange carriers (CLECs). However, the invention may be used in any system where transactions from a variety of different sources require processing.
By way of background, real-time transaction processing services require collection of transactions from various resources. In this regard, transactions can be streamed over a myriad of communication transports with an unlimited range of data formats. As such, service developers are burdened with the task of data collection that is beyond the featured offerings of the service. Developing a data collection interface requires additional resources and time resulting in costs and delays that reduce profit and/or competitiveness.
Services that tightly couple therein data collection features lose the ability to dynamically adapt to new interfaces. In this regard, an existing such service may need to support a new interface. To achieve this, the service must be modified, rebuilt, and reintroduced into the existing production system. Not only are resource costs encountered, a business may lose profit while the service is removed and reinstalled into the system.
Duplication is another factor introduced when data collection is tightly coupled with a service. A service may have to support more than one interface. For each interface, additional code must be written and supported. Duplication is also needed when the same interface supports more than one service such that each service must contain the same interface code. This can add complexity to the service interface and make maintenance a much more tedious task.
Features that add to the complexity of data collection are recovery, scaling, and high performance. Using sound and leading edge techniques is key to the development of these features so that a service, or services, become known as best-inclass operation.
The present invention contemplates a method and apparatus for processing transactions in communication networks that resolve the above-referenced difficulties and others.